Today, we reported to MJC at 0615. The move out time was supposed to be 0630, but we only managed to leave MJC by 0700. The bus driver was really unhappy over this, complaining that he had taken a mid-night taxi and reached the school at 0545. We empathised with his anger. Being a teacher-in-charge, I have to make sure that the boys are well-fed, hence, the night before, I went to buy some bread and milo drinks for them. (Just in case they got hungry, they are GROWING KIDS afterall.)
Someone seemed to be missing. Hey, where’s Aaron!!
We reached the Tuas checkpoint and everyone dashes into the automatic gantry. However, some of them were rejected entry and were re-directed to the manual gantry. We didn’t realize that one has to be above 15 of age to use the automatic gantry (if they are not using the biometric passport). This reminded me about the incident last year. Why didn’t I remembered and repeat the same mistake. (WASTE TIME). So I have most of my boys redirected to the manual gantry. Can’t believe it, they are so young… Haha... And now the joke of the day, Pariz told me, “Mr Jason, you know what… when Ghufran was asked to put his thumb on the red laser light for his thumbprint, he pressed his thumb onto the wet spronge (those that you found in post office when you want to wet your stamps.. ). The officer was laughing too…). I almost fainted. That added to my worries for the Malaysia expedition.
Next, we cleared the Malaysia checkpoint, and the stupid security officer stopped me and asked if I was a Singaporean!! Isn’t it obvious… Maybe I look like an illegal immigrant.
In another hour, we have reach our first Mountain, Gunung Panti. Familiar isn’t it. Yes, it’s the mount for NYAA Silver Expedition. We have to walk a long way before we reach the FOOT of the mountain. Along the way, we met a horse, some chicken and cattle (along the “the land of dungs”). The hike was tiring, but challenging. This is when you see the children exhibiting their caring and leadership skills. The MJCian did take good care of their juniors. They were also constantly encouraged with that irritating “2 minutes more, 2 minutes more….” which never seemed to fulfill. We took about TWO hours plus to reach the summit. The difficulty of the trek was still alright, but definitely tougher than our very own Bukit Timah Hill. We took some photographs, of course, with our NPCC flag. =P
We had lunch and we descended the mountain, along the same trail. Everyone had depleted their energy. Getting down was tougher, along the way, Darren sprained his ankle but he was still very determined to complete the course. That’s the spirit, go Darren!!. Fauzi had a relapse of his old ailment. His pain on his knees came back, but he completed the trail as well. Good work. The bus was already waiting for us to bring us to our campsite. Before that could happened; everyone bought an ice bag each, which cost 10 cents. IN RINGGIT!! AND THAT DEFINITELY SAVES OUR LIVES…
The campsite was beautiful. It was like an New Zealand Plains… with a lake (QUITE DIRTY), horses (ONLY TWO, NO.. NOW ONLY ONE , you will know why later) AND TOILETS…… That is really a relief for all of us… as we were told that there are no toilets and we have to powder bathe for the 3D2N expedition. The students quickly embarked in their tent pitching and dinner. Nothing much happen later, everyone was tired, and light off at 10 00.